Volatile fighting: The news of the kidnapping and beheading of Mr Arbashe came as pro-government forces celebrated their victory against rebels at the Air Defence Base in Tal Hassil near Aleppo Airport last night

Christian Andrei Arbashe, 38, was kidnapped and beheaded by rebel fighters in northern town of Ras Al-Ayn on the Turkish border

News came as pro-government forces celebrated their victory against rebels near Aleppo Airport

Syrian rebels beheaded a Christian man and fed his body to dogs, according to a nun who says the West is ignoring atrocities committed by Islamic extremists.

The nun said taxi driver Andrei Arbashe, 38, was kidnapped after his brother was heard complaining that fighters against the ruling regime behaved like bandits.

She said his headless corpse was found by the side of the road, surrounded by hungry dogs. He had recently married and was soon to be a father.

Sister Agnes-Mariam de la Croix said: ‘His only crime was his brother criticised the rebels, accused them of acting like bandits, which is what they are.’

There have been a growing number of accounts of atrocities carried out by rogue elements of the Syrian Free Army, which opposes dictator Bashar al-Assad and is recognised by Britain and the West as the legitimate leadership.

Sister Agnes-Miriam, mother superior of the Monastery of St James the Mutilated, has condemned Britain and the west for supporting the rebels despite growing evidence of human rights abuses. Murder, kidnapping, rape and robbery are becoming commonplace, she says.

‘The free and democratic world is supporting extremists,’ Sister Agnes-Miriam said from her sanctuary in Lebanon. ‘They want to impose Sharia Law and create an Islamic state in Syria.’

Fatal opinion: The man’s brother had criticised the behaviour of members of the Free Syrian Army, seen here during heavy clashes with government forces north of Aleppo earlier this month

The 60-year-old Carmelite nun claims the west has turned a blind eye to growing evidence of a ‘fifth column’ of fanatics within the rag-tag ranks that make up the Free Syrian Army that they back to oust Assad.

One of the most effective fighting forces is the Jabat Al-Nusra, which has an ideology similar to Al Qaeda.

‘The uprising has been hijacked by Islamist mercenaries who are more interested in fighting a holy war than in changing the government,’ she said.

‘It has turned into a sectarian conflict. One in which Christians are paying a high price.’

The rebel attacked the northern town of Ras Al-Ayn, on the Turkish border, last month. The fighters entered the Christian quarter, ordering civilians to leave and leaving their homes.

‘More than 200 families were driven out in the night,’ Sister Agnes-Miriam says. ‘People are afraid. Everywhere the deaths squads stop civilians, abduct them and ask for ransom, sometimes they kill them.’

Threat: Sister Agnes-Mariam said that rebel fighters, pictured, are targeting Christians in Syria in a bid to make it a Muslim state

Militants wearing black bandanas of Al Qaeda recently laid siege to the Monastery of St James the Mutilated, located between Damascus and Homs, for two days in an attempt to prevent Christmas celebrations, the nun claims.

An estimated 300,000 Christians have been displaced in the conflict, with 80,000 forced out of the Homs region alone, she claims.

Many have fled abroad raising fears that Syria’s Christian community may vanish – like others across Middle East, the birthplace of Christianity.

Al Assad, a member of the Alawite Muslim sect, claims only his regime can protect Syria’s minorities from domination from the Sunni Muslims majority.

Meanwhile the fighting continues to rage with government forces retaking control of a key district in the city of Homs yesterday.

The latest violence comes after United Nations peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi warned of ‘hell’ for Syria if no political solution could be found.

Russia has stated the conflict is becoming increasingly militarised and sectarian and risks bringing chaos to the whole region.

Some 44,000 people have been killed since the uprising against the Al Assad regime began in March 2011.

HYDERABAD: Akbaruddin Owaisi, the firebrand leader of the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM), was on Friday taken to court over his disparaging remarks against Hindus in a hate speech, the main content of which was that Muslims would need just 15 minutes without the police to show 100 crore Hindus who is more powerful.

In a complaint filed against the MIM legislator, an advocate said he had stumbled upon YouTube uploaded hate speech made at a public meeting at Adilabad on December 24, about 300 km from the city.

The VII additional chief metropolitan magistrate after admitting the petition said the matter will be heard on December 31.

Akbaruddin, who is the younger brother of MIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi, said Hindus have so many gods and goddesses, and every eight days, there are new gods coming up. “We knew about Lakshmi, but who is Bhagyalakshmi, we are not aware,” Akbar said referring to the Bhagyalakshmi temple abutting the historic Charminar.

The MIM had been complaining against a semi-permanent structure over the Bhagyalakshmi temple and finally parted ways with the Congress party after weeks of violence.Akbaruddin’s hate speech saw a huge buzz created on the social media all day and it was also trending on Twitter.

“Inflammatory speech by MLA Akbaruddin – Remove police for 15 mins, We will finish off 100 crore Hindus,” tweeted television commentator and interviewer Karan Thapar, which was re-tweeted by journalist and columnist Swapan Dasgupta.

Mali: Radical Islamists controlling the north in Mali have sent death threats to several senior Muslim chiefs in the country, officials said on Thursday.

One of the people to receive the threats is Cherif Ousmane Madani Haidara, who heads a Muslim association that groups tens of thousands of followers.

Haidara “has received numerous death threats by phone over the past several days, either directly or through those close to him”, said close aide Ousmane Diallo.

“It’s the Islamists in the north who telephoned,” he charged, adding that one of the callers said: “We are going to kill you because you want nothing to do with our Islam… we are going to kill you because you don’t want sharia in Mali.”

Haidara heads a Muslim association called Ansar Dine (Defenders of the Faith), which is the same name as one of the radical Islamist groups that have seized control of the north of the country following a March coup.

“We have nothing to do with the Ansar Dine of the north. We condemn the hands that they are chopping,” Haidara had previously said, referring to the amputations of hands of accused robbers that Islamist groups in the north have carried out.

“We condemn their Islam,” he said.

While most of Malian Muslims follow the Sufi brand of Islam, the Islamists controlling the north adhere to the radical Wahhabi tradition.

Underscoring the stark differences between the two groups, the Islamists this week destroyed more Muslim mausoleums that they consider blasphemous in the fabled city of Timbuktu.

Other Muslim chiefs who said they had also received death threats recently are Mohammad Macky Ba, the president of the Young Mali Muslims union, Mahamadou Diallo, an imam in Bamako, as well as Thierno Hady Thiam, another Muslim preacher.

An official with the Mali security ministry said that the ministry was aware of the death threats and that it had taken “all necessary security precautions to assure the protection of the people threatened”.

Gunmen suspected to belong to a radical Islamist sect attacked a village in northeast Nigeria, tying up men, women and children before slitting their throats, killing at least 15 in the troubled region’s latest attack, witnesses said Saturday.

The assault happened early Friday morning in the village of Musari on the outskirts of Maiduguri, the city where the sect known as Boko Haram first launched its guerrilla campaign of shootings and car bombings against Nigeria’s weak central government. The gunmen shouted religious slogans and later ordered those there to be gathered up into a group, said Mshelia Inusa, a primary school teacher in the village.

“We heard some people chanting, ‘God is great, God is great’ amid sounds of banging on doors of houses at about 1 a.m.,” the teacher said. “A voice was heard ordering people to be slaughtered and also voices of children were heard screaming.”

Inusa said he and others later saw corpses with their hands tied behind their backs and their throats cut.

Later Friday morning, an ambulance arrived at the State Specialists Hospital in Maiduguri, accompanied by a group of military vehicles, a security guard said. Agitated soldiers ordered people away, but the guard said he counted at least 15 bodies being brought into the facility’s morgue.

The guard spoke on condition of anonymity out of fears of angering either the military or the sect.

Lt. Col. Sagir Musa, a military spokesman, later issued a statement saying only five people had been killed in the village during the attack. However, military and police officials routinely downplay casualty figures because they are under increasing pressure from their superiors to minimize the perceived effects of the ongoing attacks by Boko Haram.

Boko Haram, which speaks to journalists through conference calls at times of its choosing, could not be immediately reached for comment Saturday. However, the attack mirrored other assaults carried out by the group as it expands its operations outside of cities in the northeast into rural towns and villages, where the security presence remains light and contact with the outside world remains difficult as the sect has destroyed a number of mobile phone towers recently.

The sect, whose name means “Western education is sacrilege” in the Hausa language of Nigeria’s Muslim north, wants the nation to enact strict Shariah law and release its imprisoned members. Despite a heavy military and police presence, the sect’s adherents have continued to launch frequent attacks.

More than 780 people have been killed in Boko Haram attacks so far this year, according to an Associated Press count, making 2012 the worst year of violence attributed to the group. Boko Haram also has loose connections with al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb and Somalia’s al-Shabab, according to Western military officials and diplomats.

Suspected Boko Haram gunmen also attacked another village Friday in Adamawa state on its border with neighboring Cameroon. Witnesses said that attack focused on the town of Maiha, where gunmen also shouted praises to God while setting fire to government buildings, a school and a prison. At least 35 prisoners were released from the prison in the attack, though 11 had been recaptured, police spokesman Mohammed Ibrahim said Saturday.

Ibrahim said a civilian and a police officer were killed during the fighting.

And violence continued around the central Nigerian city of Jos, where ethnic, religious and political rivalries have caused mass killings in recent years. Authorities said at least seven had been killed in recent days around Christian villages in the rural plateau. Police said they were investigating the attacks.

Peshawar, Pakistan Taliban militants launched simultaneous attacks on 3 checkpoints in Peshawar on friday and captured 21 Pakistani Paramilitary Members. They were tied up and blindfolded then, were taken out and lined up side by side.

The members of the Pakistani Security Force were then shot one by one following a verdict for their execution by Islamic clerics. The taliban has vowed to continue such attacks.

The 21 bodies were located and all were dead except one who is currently in the hospital recovering from serious wounds.

This Missile base was siezed by Hezbollah and the Muslim Brotherhood recently in Syria and rests overlooking the nation state of Israel

By S. Montague

When looking back at the missile attacks against Israel last month by the Hamas Terrorist organization in Gaza, it is hard not to make a few observations.

As rapidly as the unsolicited attacks began, they ended in the same fashion. We must ask ourselves, what was achieved by Hamas?

There are certainly many valuable pieces of information that were inadvertently released by Israel to their enemies during Operation Pillar of Defense. Among these were Israel’s plan of response to a missile attack. This is understandable though because in any act of defense against your aggressor, your defensive posture will be observed. This is almost completely unavoidable, especially with the technology that exists today. And, speaking of which… technology, namely military technology, played a major role in Israel’s ability to defend herself from the islamic aggression, just a few kilometers away.

Since Iranian drones were spotted in the area, it is safe to assume that they were sitting back and taking notes in this brief proxy war on their behalf. So, let’s take a look at some of the other ‘available information’ that was literally “ripe for the picking” by any observer on the sideline.

In the process of responding to the barrage of missiles launched from Gaza, Israel was forced into utilizing their new, state of the art “Iron Dome Missile Defense System.” In doing so, Israel essentially relinquished the locations of their interceptors. This system operates on a series of digital signatures and transmissions between detectors/receivers and interceptors. These digital transmissions (ie.) signals are sent out through the air and can easily be received by anyone with a digital receiver. Such as, a drone flying just out of sight. Embedded in these digital signatures would have been a host of valuable information to any enemy.

Hamas and anyone else paying attention were also able to discern one of the limitations of the Iron Dome Missile Defense System. When Hamas launched their missiles at a slower, more normal pace, the accuracy of Israeli interception was quite high. Although, as Hamas increased their launch frequency to a more rapid, simultaneous barrage, the Iron Dome System, while successfully intercepting one incoming missile would allow two or three to go by. Rest assured, this fact did not go unnoticed.

With the current instability of the middle east, Israel’s enemies at every border and Iran’s self-admitted plan to ‘annihilate Israel off of the map’, It is not hard to believe or envision a scenario in which Hamas was simply acting on the request or orders of a higher entity. When month after month of failed negotiations usually result in a continued, never-ending attack on Israel, this time was not the case. Perhaps the data collection mission was achieved.

The seemingly endless supply of martyrdom-seeking jihadists makes it tempting to abandon the battlefields, but withdrawal does not come without cost. For many Muslims, victory is a display of approval from Allah and defeat is judgment. One success can inspire a generation, while a series of undeniable losses can cause re-examination of the jihad’s merits.

The monotheistic religions have a history of viewing victories against insurmountable odds as miracles and defeats as divine punishment. The Terrorism & Homeland Security: 7th Edition textbook by Jonathan R. White explains that in the year 624, Mohammed and his followers fought a superior army from Medina that was unhappy with their raiding of caravans.

“It was a small battle, but politically important. Because of their victory at Badr, Muslims increasingly came to believe that God was on their side and that their cause would be championed in heaven,” White writes. Mohammed and his followers subsequently conquered Mecca.

The Muslim world has a much better memory than the West. Whereas most American students can name more Jersey Shore cast members than presidents, Muslim students can name battles, Caliphs and Islamic theologians. The Battle of Badr’s lesson is still valued today, as evidenced in that Iran named one of its proxies in Iraq as the Badr Brigade.

The U.S. withdrawal from Lebanon following the 1983 Marine barracks bombing and from Somalia following the 1993 ambush is seen as modern-day equivalents of the Battle of Badr. Long after most Americans forgot about the incidents, jihadists continue to reference them as proof that Allah was on their side against the “paper tiger.”

The galvanizing impact of jihadist victories is very difficult to reverse because of their emphasis on patience, faith and long-term thinking. The pain of a subsequent setback is dwarfed by the joy of the previous win. The only answer is a Western winning streak against the jihadists that cannot be denied or effectively spun.

A January 2011 letter by Adam Gadahn, an American that is now a senior Al-Qaeda member in Pakistan, shows that the unshakeable public confidence of some Al-Qaeda leaders is a farce.

He is demoralized over Al-Qaeda’s recent losses, particularly in Iraq where, for them, things seemed to be going so well. He pondered whether this was a “punishment by God on us because of our sins and injustices.”

Al-Qaeda’s massacring of Muslims is what offended Allah, he concluded. If Al-Qaeda were advancing, he would have concluded that Allah had blessed his group’s conduct.

Top Islamists feel the same way. Sayyid Imam al-Sharif, more commonly known as “Dr. Al-Fadl,” is a long-time mentor of Ayman al-Zawahiri, the current leader of Al-Qaeda. His works are widely respected and considered authoritative, particularly his 1988 jihadist text, “The Essential Guide for Preparation.”

In 2007, he rocked the jihadist world by authoring a text from his Egyptian jail cell titled, “The Document of Right Guidance for Jihad Activity.” Its criticism of Al-Qaeda is so scathing that Zawahiri had to publicly respond.

Al-Fadl argued that Al-Qaeda’s misfortunes since the September 11, 2001 attacks showed that Allah did not endorse the group’s jihad. He wrote:

“Allah, may He be praised, says that the Muslims’ misfortunes are because of themselves, and bin Laden and al-Zawahiri say they are because of America. Let the Muslims consider who they are going to follow: Allah, or bin Laden and al-Zawahiri?”

He blames Al-Qaeda for “every drop of blood that was shed or is being shed in Afghanistan and Iraq.” He criticized the 9/11 attacks as not only a violation of Sharia Law but idiotic:

“Ramming America has become the shortest road to fame and leadership among the Arabs and Muslims. [To] cross the ocean to go to your enemy in its own home and destroy one of its buildings, and it destroys the Taliban state—and then you claim to be a mujahid [holy warrior]—only an idiot would do such a thing.”

Al-Fadl writes that Allah is not blessing Al-Qaeda because its jihad is un-Islamic in multiple ways:

It is counter-productive.

It lacks approving fatwas from credible scholars.

It targets Muslim and non-Muslim civilians.

It uses human shields.

It was partially financed through criminal activity.

“There’s no such thing as ‘the goal justifies the means’ in Islam,” he told Al-Arabiya.

It violates peace treaties and ceasefires with non-Muslims that protect Muslims.

It is “not honorable” to infiltrate Western countries providing Muslims with refuge and opportunities in order to “betray” them.

It targets Westerners living peacefully in Muslim countries who were invited there for work.

It is forbidden to attack Muslims of a “different creed,” referring to attacks on Shiites.

Don’t mistake Al-Fadl’s criticism of Al-Qaeda as an opportunity to embrace a moderate, anti-Islamist leader. He wants to create Islamic States and his opposition to war with the U.S. is based in practicality. His criticism of Al-Qaeda is based on its tactics and strategy, not its end goal.

He predicts that the “jihad in Afghanistan will lead to the creation of an Islamic state with the triumph of the Taliban, God willing.” He endorses jihad in principle against the U.S. in Iraq and against Israel.

The point here is not that Al-Qaeda’s tactics are opposed by some Islamists. The point is that Al-Fadl argued that Al-Qaeda’s defeats and the consequences of 9/11 for the Muslim world prove that Allah is not in favor of the group.

The arguments about what is justifiable is settled by what happens on the battlefield. If you’re on the right side of the argument, Allah will bring you victory. If your interpretation of Islamic law is incorrect, Allah will let you dig your own grave or dig it for you.

You may agree or disagree with the West’s involvement in a specific battlefield, but once it arrives, it must win. When Western military forces leave, the jihadists must not be vindicated. The perception must not be that Allah intervened on their behalf.

Ryan Mauro is RadicalIslam.org’s National Security Analyst and a fellow with the Clarion Fund. He is the founder of WorldThreats.com and is frequently interviewed on Fox News.

We have been working with Mr. Kahlili for nearly two years now and have found
him to be an invaluable source of breaking news and information regarding Iran’s
Mullocracy.

Reza continues to carry out his vital work here in the United
States at much personal risk to himself and his family, maintaining his many
contacts back in his homeland. The above video was produced by the Clarion Fund,
a think tank devoted to making the West aware of the dangers of
Islamism.

Take the following link to read an in-depth interview which we
did with Mr. Kahlili detailing his years of clandstine activity as well as the
current state of affairs in the Iranian “Republic.”